Getting Agented

What does it actually mean?

I have so many things to share here - months of partly written reflections and essays and art that I can’t WAIT to send out. But before I get to that, I wanted to explain a little about this whole agent thing.

If you’re new to the publishing industry, this should clear things up. If you’re in the trenches, I’ll share my stats and hopefully offer a bit of hope (and maybe advice?).

So here’s the good stuff:

Now I’ll go a little into what all of that means…

All picture book writers start somewhere, and often it’s with a complete first draft that you’re certain is perfect. My experience was exactly that. In the summer of 2021 I finally finished my first draft. It rhymed. It was flawless.

I sent it to a few friends. They have kids. They read picture books. They agreed - FLAW.LESS.

I sent it to exactly three agents. This is called querying. (The cover letter for your book is called a query.) I was sure MY book would be an instant hit, bypassing all of the traditional lengthy publishing processes and heading straight to the top of the bestseller list.

I received exactly three rejections.

Feeling a little deflated, but determined, I went back to the drawing board. I pulled out a pink sticky note I had saved from a book signing I attended in 2013 to meet Jan Brett, one of my favorite author-illustrators. I asked her “where do you begin if you want to write picture books?” She wrote “SCBWI.”

It turns out the SCBWI virtual summer conference was just two weeks away. So I registered. I downloaded The Book and read it cover to cover. I bought new notebooks and pens.

Over the following month I watched nearly every single breakout from that conference. I was inspired and moved and wrote a few new things. I even submitted a new book to an editor who spoke.

Crickets.

I knew I needed more… I had to get better at this writing thing. I decided to take a year long course called Writing for Kids with Jolie Stekly before I submitted anything else.

I learned so much from Jolie and my classmates. I wrote so many things, polished query letters, and came out with a number of pretty decent picture books. The most important thing I learned was how to give, but more importantly RECEIVE feedback. I would turn my mic off, take vigorous notes, and let them simmer for a few days. This is probably the most challenging part of being a writer, and I was getting good at it.

I took this confidence and joined several critique groups. I joined 12x12. I attended workshops and conferences. I was forming relationships and making connections and putting myself - and my work - out there. We were both improving.

By the summer 2022, I felt ready to query again. This time I had several polished and critiqued manuscripts ready to roll. I had query letters. I had pitches and synopses. I had researched my list of agents and created my spreadsheet. I joined QueryTracker.

Querying is kind of like job searching. For each agent I would study their MSWL (manuscript wishlist) and choose my books accordingly. I’d tweak my query letter with personal anecdotes based on their twitter feeds or youtube interviews. Each one was carefully researched, thoughtfully written, and sent with so much hope.

I braced myself for the inevitable rejections, and celebrated BIG when a “champagne rejection” would arrive (a rejection with positive feedback.) For several months I did this until I finally got one very enthusiastic request for more work.

I sent that off with the highest of hopes, along with a few more queries just as 2022 came to a close. After a brief holiday break I hit the ground running and set a goal to send 100 queries in 2023.

But, what’s the saying… Man plans and God laughs?

Well, I got pregnant. With twins.

So I kind of got sidetracked. I decided to spend the little energy I had on writing and art instead of querying. I took paint classes and writing workshops but only sent a few things here and there when opportunities came up. And the outstanding queries slowly trickled in (or not) with no offers.

I was perfectly happy to take some time off and focus on my little growing family. But, you want to hear some crazy $h*t?

As I’m laying in labor and delivery waiting to get wheeled back for my c-section, guess what comes in my email? A request for more work. Nearly a year after I sent the query. How nuts is that?

So even though I was “taking time off” there was still a sliver of my sleep-deprived brain still focused on what to send, what edits to make, etc. The babies were about a month old when I finally responded.

(Spoiler alert: this agent is not my agent. But the timing of her request kind of solidified for me that this dream wasn’t going to let me forget about it.)

When the babies were about three months old I got an email from my critique partner, Grace.

Esty fell in love with my boardwalk story and is now my agent. :-)

So much of publishing is luck. It’s being in the right place at the right time with the right book that makes the right person go: “YES! THAT!”

But it’s also putting in the work. Understanding your genre. Reading and reading and reading. Writing and writing and writing.

And then investing in your community. Building your network. But not just followers. CONNECTIONS. Grace and I have been to workshops together, we meet monthly for critique groups, we know each other’s portfolios inside out. I would do the same for her if I saw someone asking for a book I know she has as well as many other critique partners I am so lucky to have in my circle. If I see a MSWL asking for pirates? Sound waves? Bagels? Flower arranging? Giants? SEL? Magic? Ghosts? Farms? Dogs? Food chain? I would send the exact same email.

The kidlit community is really just one of a kind.

So that’s how we got here. Am I a published author now? Well… no. Esty represents my work. Her job is to try to sell my manuscripts to editors. Many of the big publishing houses only accept submissions from agents, so she can submit my work more widely than I could on my own. We are now a team with a common goal: find the best editor who will make this manuscript into the best book possible and sell as many copies as possible.

So I’d love to know: Did you have any idea that this much goes into a picture book?